Dream Water featured on CNBC’s award-winning ‘How I Made My Millions’ program

NEW YORK — Dream Products’ Dream Water was featured Monday evening on CNBC’s "How I Made My Millions," showcasing the company’s sleep-aid shot. "In 2006, Vincent Porpiglia dreamed up the idea of a natural sleep supplement people could drink," the tease to the show read. "Then, he teamed up with [EVP sales] David Lekach who improved the look and flavor. Now their concoction, Dream Water, is sold in 30,000 stores."

"There is a chronic sleep issue affecting a substantial minority of the population," Lekach told DSN in an interview regarding the natural sleep category earlier this year. Sleep is big business. For the 12 weeks ended April 15, a period that includes clock shifts associated with daylight savings time (DST produces a spike in sleep aid sales), sales of liquid sleep aids totaled $2.2 million across food, drug and mass (minus Walmart) outlets, behind some rise-and-shine growth of 115.6%. Dream Water at that time was the No. 2 liquid sleep aid, according to SymphonyIRI Group data, with sales eclipsing $500,000 that outpaced category growth rates with a 177.3% lift.

"Sleep issues don’t discriminate, not by age, race, sex or socio-economic class," Lekach continued. "When you factor in [that sleep] is more and more becoming part of the overall wellness conversation, the fundamental building block of any wellness program is sleeping right."

Dream Water gained initial distribution through Duane Reade in mid-December 2009, helping residents in the city that never sleeps catch a few Z’s. National distribution followed in the fall of 2010. "Today, we’re in about 30,000 points of sale with retailers like Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Safeway and airport stores all over the country [like] Hudson News."

Reports: GDUFA implementation may hit delays

NEW YORK — The generic drug user fee program may have hit a speed bump due to budget problems in Congress, according to published reports.

Bloomberg reported that implementation of the law may be delayed because Congress must first pass legislation authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to collect money from generic drug companies, but the problem is that members of Congress will leave Washington this week, not to return until after the Nov. 6 elections.

The Generic Drug User Fee Amendments, part of the renewal of PDUFA that president Barack Obama signed in July, will collect $299 million per year in user fees from generic drug companies over the next five years starting on Oct. 1. This, drug makers and agency officials hope, will help the FDA reduce a backlog of more than 2,000 generic drug approval applications and ensure faster review of future applications.

Valeant buys eye drug for $112.5 million

MONTREAL — Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has acquired rights to a drug used to treat a symptom of age-related macular degeneration, the drug maker said.

Valeant announced that it acquired the injected drug Visudyne (verteporfin) from QLT, a company based in Vancouver, Canada.

Valeant said it paid $62.5 million upfront for all U.S. rights and available inventories for the drug, which had U.S. sales of about $21 million in 2011, and another $50 million upfront for rights to non-U.S. sales, which were about $14 million.

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